


making it up as we go

by loverloser



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, M/M, endgame made me depressed, this is foR ME, we all die anyway, you guys can read but it's for me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-03-02 13:17:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18811678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loverloser/pseuds/loverloser
Summary: steve has a premium twitter account. tony has money. disgusting crushes occur.





	making it up as we go

**Author's Note:**

> will this ever go anywhere? who knows
> 
> also, after forgetting to add this, i won’t forget to mention that they are the same age!

tony stark can pay his own rent.

but he gets bored. his nights are spent building, bettering; the idea of staying up until dawn doesn't bother him anymore. talking to others might be considered, but normally, he prefers the sound of his own heartbeat. he rarely spends time on his phone. when you built it, you've seen it all. in a perfect world, he sleeps eight hours a night, wakes up to a cup of coffee and a sunrise, and spends the hours between then and sundown doing what he loves -- taking things apart, then putting them back together to make them better than ever. but a perfect world doesn’t exist. 

steve rogers, on the other hand, cannot pay his rent.

he's 26, a cancer, and 6'1", if that matters? is what his tinder bio read, but it didn't draw any attention, so he had deserted the app months before. if he could wake up and paint, wake up and draw, wake up and make the art he wanted, he would be happy, but in new york city, being an independent artist didn't cut it. his electricity flickered and sometimes the water didn't run, but overall, he was happy. broke, but happy.

for a while, steve didn’t sweat it. he had different ways of pulling in money to keep a roof over his head. on the bright side, sometimes he would walk dogs, the big ones, and not even complain to their owners when they jumped up on him. but after a while, it stopped being worth it, because at the time, it seemed like street performers on the new york streets made more money than him. until he figured out how to use it, his online presence was practically nonexistent. what he did know was this: there would always be people on the internet who would pay for your pictures. 

on the other hand, when tony stark did spend time scrolling, it could be hours. his following lists were kept short, exclusive, and, at times, an envy. but if you saw the bare, broad shoulders of a hot blonde, you wouldn’t be able to resist, either.

so, if he wanted pictures, it was $25 for a set of three. a video was $30. chit chat was free. how generous. the idea of buying dirty pictures from some guy online was enticing, he couldn't lie, but would he really want to come off that desperate?

maybe so.

it started off innocently enough. tony, as they say,  _slid into his DMs,_ and he was met by stoicism mixed in with a little bit of ease. the other wasn't there to be tony's friend, which was fine. tony wasn't looking for anything but a pretty face. 

_You know, you could just look it up online for free. That's what most guys would do._

he said his name was grant.

_yeah, the sentiment is nice and all, but i prefer someone a little more my type. it's hard to narrow down a "hot blonde huge rack" google search. there are just as many results as you'd think.  besides. i'm not most guys._

by the time they had known each other a week, tony had already spent four hundred dollars. steve thought he must be insane -- until he saw his last name on a paypal statement. tony stark.  _the_ tony stark.

but still, steve was grateful. he spent his days spending tony stark's money, and his nights sending him photos. before bed, he would say tony's name at the end of a hotter-than-hell video. that’s $35. when he got out of the shower, he would flex in the mirror as the steam crept up against the glass. $10. if he was going on a run, he would show off how tight his shirt was. free.

after two weeks, tony had a hidden folder of  _grant's_ photos.

_hey._

_new york, right? brooklyn?_

_pick up your phone._

sometimes, steve just liked to watch his phone buzz. he thought tony was cute, when he wanted attention. the rest of the time, steve was met with traits that someone else would find insufferable. the humble bragging and untouchable need for approval met with an one undying wish to love and to be loved was something he never knew he was looking for. because to him, the person steve knew was a man of pride and confidence who carried an unwavering desire to comfort others.

or maybe he just thought he had a nice body. (he's only half kidding.)

tonight, he doesn't let the phone buzz. tony gets a smirking emoji in reply, but nothing else, and god, does he find that infuriating.

_Brooklyn, born and raised. Why?_

_hey, you're up._

_good!_

_Hi, Tony._

_i'll be in your neck of the woods this time next week. let me take you out. the world is your metaphorical oyster._

all steve does is stare at the screen that is absolutely comically small in his hand. he wants to hang out with tony, he really does. he feels bad when he says no. steve says sorry, tony tells him that there are no hard feelings. tony stops asking for pictures, and steve stops offering.

_you know, i would ignore me, too. really._

_seriously. short, unstable, and daddy issues out the wazoo? not my best look._

this time, he lets his phone buzz, and buzz, and buzz.

_okay, that was a little more self-pitying than intended, so. can we pretend that never happened?_

three saturdays after he met tony stark, his electricity gets shut off.

_Hey, Tony._

on the other side of new york, tony stark's phone goes off in the dark. the bright light of the screen and the dull blue shining from his chest could combat each other, but at 11:32pm on a Saturday, it's worth it. tony had convinced himself that the ghosting had been mutual and that it was a form of  _self care_. what a load of bullshit.

they stayed up for a few hours going back and forth, awkwardly drifting over the fact that steve needed some cash, and that tony missed him. he really, truly missed him. the emojis were ironic and the flirting was a façade, until they realized that they had nothing to prove.

_at the risk of sounding desperate, i almost missed you this week._

_you know, when you were blowing me off._

_Really? You missed me, huh?_

_uh, actually, if i remember correctly, i said i almost missed you._

_in fact, i missed you for five minutes, and then i just, uh, remembered how annoying you were, then i didn’t miss you anymore._

_Oh, yeah. Tell me about it._

_brooklyn sucks, by the way. no offense. i wanted to tell you before, but you were obviously busy travelling the world in less than 80 days._

_Maybe you just needed the right person to show you around._

read at 2:49 am.

the next morning, tony woke up to photos that he could only describe as art.

_Hey, Tones._

tony almost has a heart attack reading that. his heart feels like its tightening and twisting in the pit of his stomach, and he replies a little too fast.

_that's where we're at now? tones?_

_We can call it an added bonus._

_good to know you're not charging me to call me names that will make me melt into a puddle. that's fine._

_If I have the chance to be honest, I will be._

_god, i hate that about you._

tony started spending his nights wondering what steve was doing. steve wondered the same thing, but wondering who he was with. sometimes, if they were lucky, their thoughts would coincide, cross paths and weave together, keeping the thought of each other near to their hearts.

a boy named grant. he was golden in the sun. his blonde hair was something to be desired. the muscles on his back and shoulders were nothing short of a dream. his eyes were blue like he had never known before. after three weeks, tony realizes he might just do anything just to touch him.

him, the boy of brooklyn.


End file.
